CKUA: Ten Years After The Privatization Putsch

CKUA the Alberta non profit public radio station is doing it's annual spring fund raiser.

CKUA is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the attempted privatization putsch that led to the closing of the station resulting in mass public protests and activism that got it back on the air. See my The End of Public ACCESS

That was the first ever fund raiser for the formally publicly funded station. And it has been going ever since.

It was begun eighty years ago in 1927 as a public broadcaster, founded as University of Alberta Radio. Today that tradition of public community broadcasting remains on campuses across Canada, including CJSR at the U of A.

Both stations now do annual fund raisers and for Canadians these are charitable tax write offs.

If you are an Albertan the government has increased the value of charitable donations as tax write offs in their last budget, " The charitable donations tax credit will almost double to 21 per cent.",as has the Federal Conservatives.

So dig deep and donate, and save yourself some taxes and support damn fine radio.

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Public-Access, Community-access, Canada, public-broadcasting, CKUA, privatization, University of Alberta Radio, Alberta, media,

My Favorite Conservative

Comes from south of the border. Well duh. It is none other than John McLaughlin. The master of the quick quip. Host of the McLaughlin Group on PBS. The original Hardball discussion group.

McLaughlin remains a consistent libertarian in the face of populist and demagogic conservatism. He understands that capitalism demands a social democratic infrastructure to survive while advocating for individual liberty. A classic liberal.

His predictions are usually right on when it comes to realpolitik. On a scale of 1-10, one being political oblivion of being on Fox, ten being 'metaphysical certitude', I give McLaughlin a ten.

Industrial Revolution III Here's what George Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, says, slightly redacted: Health care is in need of an industrial revolution. To reform health-care delivery, to improve its quality, to stabilize its costs, we must have access to data, reliable data, shared data. The only viable source of data is the computer. Patients' medical records need to be computerized. A well-connected, fully interoperable computerized system should be a major government goal, with appropriate funding to support it. For scale, we should think in terms of the Hill-Burton Act that gave us a national infrastructure of hospitals. The equivalent of that federal transformation, and others like it, must be undertaken now towards our health-care system. Medicare must step up to the plate to provide the funding that, over the course of the next half-decade, will completely wire U.S. health care. Health-care electronic connectivity is essential. Paper kills.

John McLaughlin It is a central pillar. If you don It is a central pillar. If you don't have the data, you cannot evolve public policy. -John McLaughlin 't have the data, you cannot evolve public policy.

Also see:

Mr. Conservative

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If Wishes Were Horses

If wishes were horses; Odds are Black will go free

It seems the Black Lord has a cheering section in Canada, of course it comes from the right. Surprise, surprise. Or perhaps it is less sympathy for him than for Lady MacBeth his wife and outspoken fellow traveler of the right.

Also See:


Conrad Black

Criminal Capitalism


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Conrad Black, Lord Black, Barbara Amiel, crime, fraud, Canada, Chicago, Hollinger
racketeering, Radler, newspapers.

Not His Peers

Former Canadian, remember he renounced his Canadian citizenship, Conrad Black, Lord Black of Crossharbour, will be judged in the United States by the working class. Which belies the old adage; of being judged by your peers.

• Video: Jury selection at the Black trial

Since he has a peerage, I guess they could have held court in the House of Lords. But then they would have acquitted him being good old boys and all.

The mask of invulnerability has begun to slip. For months, Conrad Black has scatterbombed his assailants with bombastic bravado and patronising put-downs. But as he arrived in Chicago to face a criminal trial which could consign him to dotage in jail, the scandal-hit media mogul looked tired, pale and faintly fearful.

The former Telegraph owner and friend of Lady Thatcher faces charges of racketeering, fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and obstruction of justice. With his bulky frame leaning on a courtroom table, he has spent two days listening to childcare niggles, health woes and financial hardships which jurors need settling in order to spend three months on a $40-a-day (£21) stipend sitting in judgment over him.

It is a window on to the life of ordinary folk which Black has never been near. He admits as such, complaining that his Rolls-Royce lifestyle of vintage wine, tuxedos and multiple homes is key to his downfall: "Since biblical times, and probably before, the wealthy have been envied and condemned."

But instead of throwing himself on the mercy of the Queen and her Lords, Lord Black high tailed back to the country he despises, that of his birth, the one he renounced his citizenship of.

And promptly hired crackerjack Canadian lawyer Eddie Greenspan to represent him in the United States. Which didn't go over well last week. Judge Is Not Amused by Conrad’s Black’s Lawyer

And there is further irony here, for the Black Lord is fan of that other famous racketeering Chicagoan; Al Capone

Jeffrey Cramer, the young prosecutor who is expected to deliver the government's opening argument today, even looks like Eliot Ness, who put Al Capone in jail for 11 years for tax evasion.

So perhaps to truly be judged by his peers Lord Black would not appear before his fellow British Lords but the Lords of Crime, like Capone, who like Black were busted on Rico charges.



Also See:

Conrad Black

Criminal Capitalism: Black Lord Dodges Tax Man

Criminal Capitalism: Black & Radler,Thick as Thieves

Criminal Capitalism: Lord Black Fugitive

Criminal Capitalism: Black gets his comeuppance

Criminal Capitalism: Hollinger's Black Eye

Criminal Capitalism: Black Out

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Top 47

A diverse field of Canada’s most well known and respected personalities from journalists to politicians offering their comments on the issues of the day, everyday.

This is a misleading article; first because there are only 47 folks listed.

Second because many of these folks don't "comment on the issues of the day, every day".

Third; because there is not a single labour activist amongst them. Nor anybody from the left. Notably missing are Judy Rebick , James Laxer and Jim Stanford.

Fourth; no environmentalists; Elizabeth May isn't even on the list nor David Suzuki. And no NDP bloggers.

Which is why they probably couldn't find fifty to fill the list.

It's a who's who of Macleans favorite Conservatives and Liberals. After all Maude Barlow is a Liberal.

And they have one token Dipper; Jamey Heath.

At least Kinsella ain't on the list. Boy he's going to be pissed.

h/t to Scott Tribe



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Prey For A Miracle

Canada's evangelical TV network can no longer promise God will buy you a colour TV or Mercedes Benz if you donate to them. Miracle Channel told to repent, on pain of losing licence

The Miracle Channel, a religious television station that has come under fire for its on-air fundraising campaigns, could lose its broadcast licence in the future if it doesn't follow new rules on how donations are solicited.

The channel's revised fundraising policy sets out examples of appropriate statements that can be made on air. Hosts are allowed to make comments such as: "We ask you to consider the best gift that you are able to pledge at this time." They are not allowed to say: "If you don't give today, you are robbing God and could go bankrupt."

The document also states "fundraising appeals must not create unrealistic donor expectations of what a donor's gift will actually accomplish." Allowable phrases include: "We believe that as you give, God will bless you in your area of need." The new policy does not allow statements such as: "Because you gave a gift of this amount, God says you will see your income double this month."

Guess they will just have to play more Janis Joplin ads on air.


Oh lord, wont you buy me a mercedes benz ?
My friends all drive porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So lord, wont you buy me a mercedes benz ?

Oh lord, wont you buy me a color tv ?
Dialing for dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until three,
So oh lord, wont you buy me a color tv ?

Oh lord, wont you buy me a night on the town ?
Im counting on you, lord, please dont let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round,
Oh lord, wont you buy me a night on the town ?

Everybody!
Oh lord, wont you buy me a mercedes benz ?
My friends all drive porsches, I must make amends,
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So oh lord, wont you buy me a mercedes benz ?


See:

TV

Media

Christian

CRTC


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tv, media, Christian, Christian tv, CRTC, Canada, evangelical TV, Miracle Network

Ed Stelmach Hires Scab

Paul Stanway editor and columnist with the Edmonton Sun and former Edmonton Sun reporter Tom Olson the political affairs columnist for the Calgary Herald are Premier Fast Eddie Stelmachs new media mouthpieces.

Several other Edmonton Sun legislative affairs reporters graduated to become media flacks under the Klein government too.

To their credit bloggers Daveberta covers it, and Mark Wells exposes Tom Olson as a scab during the heated and controversial Calgary Herald Strike.

Something none of the other columnists in the MSM bother to mention. Water under the bridge and all that.

Except for the reporters who fought the good fight and lost to Conrad Black's union busting efforts in an anti union province. In the home of the neo-con movement in Canada, in the city which gave birth to that movement. This was a major strike in the history of the province and in the fight for workers rights in Alberta and journalists rights across Canada.

The same Conrad Black who is now facing criminal charges in the U.S. for embezzlement of Hollinger funds.

‘Hollinger went from being an expanding business to becoming a company whose sole preoccupation was generating current cash for the controlling shareholders, with no concern for building future enterprise value or wealth for all shareholders,’ the committee found. ‘Behind a constant stream of bombast regarding their accomplishments as self-described proprietors, Black and Radler (former publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times) made it their business to line their pockets at the expense of Hollinger almost every day, in almost every way they could devise.’

Black and his wife, Barbara Amiel Black, a former columnist for The Daily Telegraph, as well as the Radler family used Hollinger as a ‘piggy bank’ for personal expenses, the panel said. The company bought a Challenger aircraft for Radler for $11.6 million and leased a Gulfstream IV jet at $3 million to $4 million a year for the Blacks. Hollinger allowed the Blacks to ‘swap’ Park Avenue apartments with the company, which ‘rigged’ the transaction so the Blacks could obtain Hollinger’s apartment for $2.5 million below its market value, the report said.

The Herald strike cost Edmonton Journal columnist Linda Goyette her job, because she would not post her column in a scab paper, the Herald.

Catherine Ford says "delicate mental gymnastics" helped her decide to scab for the Herald from the comfort of home. I'm not sure what kind of gymnastics she's talking about for, despite having portrayed herself in her first post-strike column as the only brave journalist left in the free world, it takes no courage at all to cross a picket line via computer from the coziness of Mount Royal. Ford is entitled to her opinions but her refusal to back up her convictions, face the pickets and physically cross that line shows that she is thinking not for herself, but only of herself. By accusing other journalists of being little more than ciphers for the unions they belong to, Ford casts vile aspersions on her Southam colleagues working at other unionized papers in the chain - and on journalists at unionized papers everywhere. Do you want to see real conviction, Catherine? Linda Goyette gave up her Edmonton Journal column rather than have it published in Calgary's scab-run newspaper. That's courage.

As another example, Linda Goyette, an NNA winner, got the unionization bug at the Edmonton Journal about shortly after the Calgary Herald types did. The Journal had some management problems of its own. The unionization drive failed, but some of the Journal's problem issues were resolved.

As for the highly respected writer Goyette? As I understand the story, her job description changed somewhat after the union threat abated. Some of those rumours had her basically doing glorified file clerk work.

She eventually left the paper. Other ringleaders also drifted away.

It was a long an ugly strike and it sowed the seeds for the end of editorial independence in Canadas newspaper industry.

The combination of Black's editorial agenda, reportedly forced upon his papers, his heavy-handedness with which he is alleged to deal with employees, his purported obsession with the 'bottom line' over editorial content, his alleged intolerance of opposing viewpoints in a profession which is supposed to hold opposing ideas paramount, and his critics' perception of Black as possessing disregard for the fundamental concepts behind the 'free-press', give many cause for alarm.

With the birth of Blacks right wing booster rag for the Canadian Alliance; The National Post, Southam/Hollinger bled red ink. But it was all for a good cause.
The reconstruction of Canadian newspapers from being the voice of an urban liberal middle class to being the political arm of the new right.

The strike coincided with Conrad Black hiring former Alberta Report righwingnutbar Lorne Gunter to give balance to the supposedly liberal Edmonton Journal. As he would begin to populate not just the National Post but all his papers with Canadian Alliance stalwarts and former reporters from the Alberta Report as editorial board members and columnists.

Soon after leaving parliament, Harper and Tom Flanagan co-authored an opinion piece entitled "Our Benign Dictatorship", also commended Conrad Black's purchase of the Southam newspaper chain, arguing that his stewardship would provide for a "pluralistic" editorial view to counter the "monolithically liberal and feminist" approach of the previous management.

This was not the only strike to hit the chain after Black bought it out, and they eventually led to Hollinger selling the papers to CanWest a year later.

Canwest/Global proceeded to further concentrate media ownership in Canada and undermine editorial independence and fire editors and layoff workers at a record pace. Ironically Canwest/Global continues to bleed red ink with the National Post.

Problems at the Herald surfaced under former publisher Ken King, a local go-getter who ran the city's popular and efficient Winter Olympics in 1988. The Herald had managed for more than a century without a union when King was named publisher in 1996, following Hollinger's takeover of the Southam chain. King came along with a new idea: Fairness, Accuracy and Balance. Nothing wrong with that, until senior writers and editors realized the FAB dictum had an unspoken meaning. No more muckraking. No more jabs at friends of the publisher -- who was, it turned out, friends with everyone who counted. No more being mean to the provincial government. The Herald under King was to stop picking on Calgary's problems and pay more attention to events arranged by and for the leisure class.

What's Conrad angry about now?

Despite Mr. Black's insistence that the strike at the Calgary Herald is not affecting his profits, his stock continues to plummet, his readership is down and advertisers are looking elsewhere to place their ads.
Last Thursday, Andy Marshall, striker and President of CEP Local 115A met face-to-face with a finger-wagging Conrad Black. When asked about returning to the bargaining table Black said: "We're amputating gangrenous limbs. If they have the grace of conversion and want to function as employees instead of staging an NDP coup d'etat in the newsroom, they'll be welcome." He also suggested the dispute will end one of two ways: decertification or come back to work with no agreement on such basic clauses as seniority and wage grids! Andy Marshall said no thanks.

And why should we care that Tom Olson was a scab, or that media in Canada is concentrated in the hands of a few private interests? Because now that same right wing is in power in Ottawa, as well as in Alberta, and they dominate the mainstream media in Canada.

See

Labour

Unions

Media Bias

Media

Alberta

Ed Stelmach

Conrad Black

Paul Stanway

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Tom Olson, Paul Stanway, Edmonton Sun, Calgary Herald, Calgary Herald Strike, scab, union, Alberta, journalists, Ed Stelmach, Premier, Conrad Black, Hollinger, National Post, Lorne Gunter, LindaGoyette,
media, Alberta, Canada, politics, Edmonton Journal, union, CEP, labour, labor